Being the boss may increase symptoms of depression among women, a new study suggests.

US researchers looked at the effect of job authority - the ability to hire, fire and influence pay - on almost 3,000 middle-aged women and men.

They found that job authority increased depressive symptoms among women, but the same could not be said for men.

"Women with job authority have significantly more symptoms of depression than women without this power. In contrast, men with job authority have fewer symptoms of depression than men without such power," commented the study's lead author, Tetyana Pudrovska, a sociologist at the University of Texas.

She noted that women with job authority display many characteristics that are normally ‘strong predictors of positive mental health'.

"These women have more education, higher incomes, more prestigious occupations, and higher levels of job satisfaction and autonomy than women without job authority. Yet, they have worse mental health than lower-status women," Ms Pudrovska said.

She pointed out that the answer may lie in how women are judged in the workplace.

"Years of social science research suggest that women in authority positions deal with interpersonal tension, negative social interactions, negative stereotypes, prejudice, social isolation, as well as resistance from subordinates, colleagues and superiors.

"Women in authority positions are viewed as lacking the assertiveness and confidence of strong leaders. But when these women display such characteristics, they are judged negatively for being unfeminine. This contributes to chronic stress," Ms Pudrovska suggested.

She said that men in similar positions of authority have fewer stressors overall to deal with, as they do not have to cope with the negative stereotypes and resistance that women often face.

"Men in positions of authority are consistent with the expected status beliefs, and male leadership is accepted as normative and legitimate. This increases men's power and effectiveness as leaders and diminishes interpersonal conflict," she said.

She added that gender discrimination and hostility towards women in positions of authority needs to be dealt with ‘to reduce the psychological costs and increase the psychological rewards of higher-status jobs for women'.

Details of these findings are published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

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